FLOODING as severe as the winter of 2000/2001 could be just around the corner for some communities around Andover.

The Environment Agency is keeping a very close eye on the situation and will decide in the next few days whether to send out letters to people warning of the risks.

"The groundwater levels are rising quite rapidly at the moment but a lot depends on what rainfall there is in the next couple of weeks," said a spokeswoman for the agency.

"We only issue the letters when we think there may be a problem."

Alan Smith, the Environment Agency's man on the ground in this area, says the groundwater level at Verham Dean has risen by 11 metres in the past 25 days.

The warning has been echoed by local weather recorder Trevor Wheeler.

Mr Wheeler, who has kept records of rainfall at Hurstbourne Tarrant for more than 30 years says this autumn the rainfall has been almost the same as in 2000.

"I don't want to alarm people too much but like the boy scouts, they should be prepared," said Mr Wheeler.

"The weather pattern is very similar to 2000 with a wet October and November which then continued through December and January.

"In the first 15 days of November we had 6.35 inches of rain which is almost double the average for the whole of November."

With just a little more rainfall, this November could prove to be the wettest on record beating the high total set in 1970.

Between 10 October and 15 November there was 11.57 inches of rain, which is more than the chalk can cope with. "If this continues I should start to be a little concerned," added Mr Wheeler.

"The water level in the well has been rising at around a foot a day and if it goes up another seven or eight feet there will be problems."

Internet weather forecasts say Andover will experience rainfall on each of the next 10 days with low pressure dominant but it's predicting no frost.